Return to Transcripts main page
Jane Velez-Mitchell
Body Parts Found Near Brad Pitt`s Home
Aired January 19, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Wow. There`s a whole lot of breaking news tonight.
(voice-over) The horror escalates in Hollywood. Investigators make another gruesome discovery. A pair of feet are added to the list of body parts scattered near the world-famous Hollywood sign. Tonight, in an exclusive interview, I`ll talk live from the scene to the woman who found the severed head while she was walking dogs.
Meantime, an army of cops scrambles to identify this mystery victim.
Plus, another politician hit with an explosive sex scandal. First, John Edwards. Then Arnold Schwarzenegger. Then Herman Cain. Now Newt Gingrich`s ex-wife reveals what she claims happened in their marriage. Behind closed doors, you won`t believe what she says Newt wanted her to say yes to. And what do Newt`s daughters have to say about all this? What is it with politicians and sex? We`re taking your calls.
Plus, we`re uncovering the secrets behind troubled TV star Heather Locklear`s sudden rush to the hospital. Prosecutors say she and her ex- fiance had a physical fight a few weeks earlier. And reports claim now she`s battling her parents, who want to put her in rehab for drug and alcohol addiction.
And missing Ayla Reynolds` mom backpedals on taking a polygraph. Is she hiding something?
(on camera) What are the secrets behind these stories? Let`s find out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Severed body parts discovered near the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
COMMANDER ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE DEPARTMENT: It`s hard to go into a killer`s mind to figure out what they`re trying to do, but this was found in a somewhat remote area, off of the main trail.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The women who found the head were walking their dogs, and the dogs actually found the bag first and began playing with it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is like one of the only trails that leads you straight to the Hollywood sign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was not far off the trail. You know, they were able to see it without walking off the trail, so, you know, it was nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources tell me there`s speculation there could be other bags out within that crime scene, with other body parts inside. Tonight, the Los Angeles Police Department could not confirm that information.
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It`s fairly rugged, fairly rural, but are there other body parts out there? That`s what we don`t know.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good evening, everyone, Jane Velez-Mitchell coming to you live from New York City. We begin with breaking news from the other coast, Hollywood, California.
More dismembered body parts turning up in the celebrity-studded Hollywood Hills tonight. An incredible twist, straight out of the movies. We have now learned the severed head of a mystery murder victim was found right near the home of movie star Brad Pitt. And we`re going to tell you about the startling link between fact and fiction. Life imitating art in the worst possible way tonight.
But first, take a look at this. Here to see the proximity between the Hollywood sign where the severed head was found and Brad Pitt`s home, just five minutes away. According to reports, that is the gate to Brad`s home, a big "No Trespassing" sign readily apparent there. Police have apparently interviewed Brad`s body guards for possible leads to who this mystery severed head belongs to.
And here`s cops from a news conference that occurred just minutes ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: This crime occurred someplace else. These body parts were transported up into the canyon and deposited here by someone. We strongly suspect that all these parts match each other. Any piece of flesh or any human remains left there would probably be very quickly found by animals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s take a look at live pictures from Hollywood right now. This is the area where the severed head and the other severed body parts were found. A very popular hiking trail. And right now, it looks pretty normal. Could be an average day, but there have been a small army of investigators poring over this area, looking for, well, a torso, perhaps?
Late last night, two more clues surfaced. Two feet, two human feet, were discovered. Which means authorities now have a head, two hands and two feet, all believed to belong to the same man. Still missing, that man`s torso. And we have no idea who this man is or why he was murdered.
What sick secrets are behind this Hollywood homicide? Call me, 1-877- JVM-SAYS. That`s 1-877-586-7297.
Tonight, my exclusive interview with the woman who discovered this severed head while she was out walking dogs. Something like nine dogs. Guess what? She`s a dog water and an animal lover. I am delighted to introduce Lauren Kornberg.
First of all, kudos to you. Cops say they would not have even known about this murder case were it not for you. Please introduce us to your four-legged companion. Tell us who he is and what exactly happened vis-a- vis the severed head, you, and this dog.
LAUREN KORNBERG, FOUND SEVERED HEAD: Well, I think Ollie needs to take the credit. He was the one that discovered it. So.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And tell me a little bit about Ollie, first of all.
KORNBERG: Ollie`s a Golden Retriever. He`s about 3 years old. I`ve been his walker for, I think, about a year, actually, maybe two years now. He is a rescue dog from Golden Retriever Rescue.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yay!
KORNBERG: And a pretty fantastic hunter and tracker.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And I assume he`s not, like, like Brad Pitt`s dog or anything like that? He`s just the dog of an average person that lives in the neighborhood?
KORNBERG: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tell us what happened. You`re walking on this trail and we`re showing the trail while you talk, you and Ollie and a whole bunch of other dogs, and you`re with a friend, I understand, and all of a sudden, what happens?
KORNBERG: I was on the trail with my dogs. I had eight, and my mom was with me, and her dog. And we were wandering around on the trail. I guess he`s laying down. We were wandering around on the trail and the dogs were sniffing around, and he pulled away from me and made a beeline for an area under some brush. He was barking, he was digging, had a high-pitched bark and just going to town on an area. Usually when that happens, he ends up with a mouse or a rat or a squirrel or something interesting for me. So I just let him kind of go.
And a few minutes later, he had something in his mouth, which he immediately dropped. And it rolled down about 30 feet down a hillside into a ravine. I looked at my mom, and I said that I thought it was a ball, a soccer ball, maybe, and then I kind of cringed and I said it actually looked kind of like a skull. And we both kind of looked at each other, so we walked down and looked down into the ravine, where it had fallen, and noticed that laying there in the leaves, there was a head. Our assumption was that -- yes, our assumption was it`s Hollywood, there`s always people, you know, filming little movies up there. We thought it was a prop. We hoped it was a prop.
So we decided that we had to go down closer and investigate and make sure that that was really the case, because it looked quite real, but, again, it`s Hollywood. They do that. So we walked down to the ravine and got closer and realized that it was a freshly severed human head.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What was your reaction? What was your emotional reaction when you realized, this is real?
KORNBERG: It was disbelief. I mean, we both kept going back and forth to each other, no, it can`t be, and just looked, and once we had determined, yes, it was, in fact real, we sort of took some deep breaths and composed ourselves and decided that we had to call 911. Neither of us had a cell phone. We stopped two hikers and asked to use their cell phone. They came over to the site as well and called 911 for us and were there for a few minutes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What did you say to your mother? What was the conversation between you and your mother? I can`t even imagine, I`m walking with my mother, with some dogs, and all of a sudden -- when you realized it was a human head, severed, what did you and your mom say to each other?
KORNBERG: I mean, we pretty much were just sort of gasping and saying, oh, my God. I was shaking. I just -- it felt like some -- a script, like somebody had written this. It just doesn`t feel -- it still doesn`t feel real.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Can you tell me...
KORNBERG: It`s pretty overwhelming.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Can you tell me what this man looked like? Did he have facial hair, dark eyes, blue eyes?
KORNBERG: I didn`t go around to the front side of him. I saw hair and an ear, and a side view. He had salt and pepper gray hair, it was an older white male. I didn`t face him on the front view. My mom actually within the around and was the braver one and was closer and saw the view from the front.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did -- OK. Did either of you touch him?
KORNBERG: No. Not -- make sure that that was really the case, because it looked quite real, but, again, it`s Hollywood. They do that. So we walked down to the ravine and got closer and realized that it was a freshly severed human head.
What was your reaction? What was your emotional reaction when you realized, this is real?
KORNBERG: It was disbelief. I mean, we both kept going back and forth to each other, no, it can`t be, and just looked, and once we had determined, yes, it was, in fact real, we sort of took some deep breaths and composed ourselves and decided that we had to call 911. Neither of us had a cell phone. We stopped two hikers and asked to use their cell phone. They came over to the site, as well and called 911 for us and were there for a few minutes.
What did you say to your mother? What was the conversation between you and your mother? I can`t even imagine, I`m walking with my mother, with some dogs, and all of a sudden -- when you realized it was a human head, severed, what did you and your mom say to each other?
KORNBERG: I mean, we pretty much were just sort of gasping and saying, oh, my God. I was shaking. I just -- it felt like a script, like somebody had written this. It just doesn`t feel -- it still doesn`t feel real.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Can you tell me...
KORNBERG: It`s pretty overwhelming.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Can you tell me what this man looked like? Did he have facial hair, dark eyes, blue eyes?
KORNBERG: I didn`t go around to the front side of him. I saw hair and an ear, and a side view. He had salt and pepper grey hair, it was an older white male. I didn`t face him on the front view. My mom actually within the around and was the braver one and was closer and saw the view from the front.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did -- OK. Did either of you touch him?
KORNBERG: No. Not...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead. Go ahead.
KORNBERG: She did with a stick to determine, to pull some leaves aside so we could get a better view and determine, but we did not touch him.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And -- so you`re looking at this head that`s been severed, and you`re saying, you -- your mom was the braver one, that she went and got up close, but you must have been close enough to the see that it was human, so you can describe it in some way.
KORNBERG: Oh, yes. I was -- I was probably four feet away, and she got as close as about a foot away, so we could verify -- we didn`t want to start calling 911 and through this, because it`s Hollywood...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Short hair? Did the man have short hair? Was it trimmed?
KORNBERG: Yes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Salt and pepper.
KORNBERG: Short, salt and pepper, sort of thinnish hair.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Like a receding hairline?
KORNBERG: I didn`t see it from the front view. It was a side view, and I didn`t see his -- I didn`t see his eyes. I didn`t see him from the front view of his eyes. It was ear and side view that I saw.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is something -- what are the neighbors saying? What are the people around there saying? Are they scared?
KORNBERG: You know, I think people are scared, and I think people are sad. I mean, I grew up here in Hollywood. I grew up going to that canyon and that park. And a lot of us are just sad that the beauty and the innocence -- it`s kind of a magical park. It`s trees and these amazing leaves that fall. And I think that it just feels like sort of something has kind of been taken from us that this happened in an area that a lot of us love so much.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you should know, though, that you did the right thing, and because of you, perhaps some family is going to get closure on a missing person. It`s a mystery. We have no idea what secrets that severed head, the severed hands, the severed feet hold, but coming up, I`m going to tell you that in another state, they have just found a torso! That`s right. In Arizona.
KORNBERG: In another...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: In another state. We don`t know if it`s the same torso. Police believe possibly not. We`re going to talk to the commander at the Los Angeles Police Department on the other side of the break. Stay right there, Lauren and Ollie. Great job, both of you.
Also, Newt Gingrich, we`re going to talk about him. Oh, my gosh, his ex-wife, you won`t believe what he is saying about what Newt asked her to say yes to.
But first, are police in Los Angeles any closer to identifying this victim, this mystery man? The severed head, the severed feet. You won`t believe what they`re doing with the severed hands to try to identify. We`re taking your calls: 1-877-JVM-SAYS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: A severed human hand has been located. It`s in close proximity to the severed head, so we have every reason to believe that it`s the same individual.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: One of the easiest ways to identify anybody, obviously, is with their fingerprints. Unfortunately, when a hand is exposed to the elements or when it`s been severed from a body, it tends to lose its fluid and become desiccated or dried out. Think of yourself, if you stay too long in the bathtub or you swim too long, your fingers get pruny. We can`t pull a fingerprint off a pruned finger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And my understanding is that they often have to inject saline into the severed hand in order to get it more like a real hand again, so they can literally do the fingerprints, and that`s possibly what authorities are doing.
The big mystery tonight: where`s the rest of this mystery murder victim`s body?
We`ve got more breaking news. We`re learning another body part has turned up in another state. We`ve got a head, two hands, two feet discovered in Hollywood near the famous Hollywood sign. And an adult human torso has just been found all the way in Tucson, Arizona. That is about 500 miles away.
Straight out to Commander Andrew Smith with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Thank you so much, Commander, for taking the time to talk to us tonight. What do you know about this torso found in Tucson, Arizona?
SMITH: Well, our detectives have been in contact with the detectives in Tucson, Arizona, and they`re comparing notes back and forth. It`s a bit of a stretch to think that someone would take a head and a pair of hands, and a pair of feet and bring it all the way here from Tucson, Arizona, but it`s a possibility and we`ve got detectives that are following up on it.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It must be pretty hard to figure out right off the bat to figure out if it`s the same body, because bodies decompose, and they turn different colors in the stage of decomposition. So you`ve probably -- to be absolutely sure, unless it`s a different gender, you`d probably have to do some kind of blood test, Commander?
SMITH: We could do that. You could also -- the coroner`s really good at determining where the legs were severed and what was used to sever them. We can compare notes on that. We can compare ethnicity. We can compare bone size, that type of thing. So the coroners are really going to have to get back and forth with each other and figure it out amongst themselves.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And commander, do you have any idea who this man might be? Have you been able to match him in any way, shape or form or come up with a motive as to someone would want him dead and decapitate him?
SMITH: No. Right now, the answer is no. We don`t know who this individual is. We`re still waiting to get results back from the coroner on the fingerprint analysis and DNA analysis on this individual. And we really don`t know why someone would do that.
Obviously, also, they wanted to hide this part of the body. We don`t know where the rest of the torso and the rest of the body is, but it`s pretty obvious to us that someone wanted to hide this thing by taking it way back up in the hills here and hiding it off a hiking trail.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Well, thank you for taking the time, Commander. I know you are very busy. And good luck. I hope you find out and solve this mystery.
And this is truly terrifying. You remember this movie, "Seven," it`s a 1995 Brad Pitt movie. Here`s a look from YouTube and Newline Home Video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MORGAN FREEMAN, ACTOR: There`s blood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You`ve made quite a life for yourself, detective. You should be very proud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Spoiler alert! There`s a severed head in that box. A severed head of Brad Pitt`s wife in the movie. And so that`s a real-life horror story that we`re dealing with now, as a real decapitated head is found just minutes from Brad`s Hollywood home. And he played -- this is one of his breakout movies -- in a film that involves a severed head.
Honestly, Kelly Davis, writer, X-17Online.com. This is a bizarre, bizarre life imitates art, perhaps. And then there`s the additional, the additional thing you showed there on your Web site that -- are authorities talking to Brad Pitt`s bodyguards?
KELLY DAVIS, WRITER (via phone): They are. It is a bizarre twist, and even more so that you pointed out a similar plot twist in the Brad Pitt movie from "Seven."
In real life, his security detail have become involved. And of course, I don`t think that they`re suspects of any kind, but they are staking out Brad Pitt`s house and watching the streets around his home, 24/7. And so I think police thought that they might be a good reference as someone who might have seen something. So they -- we actually spotted the police speaking with one of Brad Pitt`s bodyguards just yesterday.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Pete Demetriou, KNX -- KNX 1070, what about the bag? The severed head was in a grocery bag, purportedly from Ralph`s.
PETE DEMETRIOU, KNX REPORTER: Well, the bag and the head, again, found by the dog. And as you head your person with the dog able to tell you what happened there, you`ve got a fair idea of what it is. And as to whether that bag came from a specific store, I`ve got a feeling it`s one of the things that robbery/homicide division is going to be taking a look at.
Jane, in 48 hours since this...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. More on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: As I stood here yesterday, three individuals walked up to and said, "My dad`s been missing for seven months. This is what he looked like. Is what the head that you found looks like?" Fortunately, or happily, it didn`t appear to be the same person. But again, I took their information. I provided that to our detectives. That will be one more clue that our detectives are going to have to follow up on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Who is the mystery man whose decapitated head was found near the Hollywood sign, near Brad Pitt`s home that has authorities actually even talking to Brad Pitt`s security guards? And there are plenty of other celebrities -- we`re going to talk about that in a second -- who live in the area and use that hiking trail.
We`ve done an exclusive interview. We`re going to continue it with Lauren Kornberg and her amazing, well, friend, four-legged companion, Ollie. She`s a dog walker. And Ollie is sitting down right now. But -- no, there he is. You see Ollie? If you give him a pet, Lauren, maybe he`ll come back up.
Come on, Ollie, it`s showbiz. There we go. There we go. He`s our hero dog, who discovered this severed head, and he`s a rescue from a golden retriever rescue, and we`re both so happy, Lauren Kornberg and I, that this wonderful rescue dog has provided an example of what rescues can do.
We`re going to go to the phone lines. Victoria, Ohio, your question or thought, Victoria?
CALLER: Yes, my question was, have the police gone and looked in any of the missing persons databases for anybody that would match the description of the body that they found?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Pete Demetriou, reporters, KNX 1070?
DEMETRIOU: Yes, as a matter of fact, I have. The LAPD does about 3,500 missing person cases a year, and they resolve about 70 percent of them. That`s one of the first things they did in this investigation. They wound up, believe it or not, at the site about 48 hours after they found the head.
What they`ve done is that they`ve taken the evidence away. It`s gone to the coroner`s office. They`ve rehydrated one of the hands so they will be able to get prints off of it. In addition, they`ve taken all the evidence they have now, and it`s over at the police administration building in downtown Los Angeles.
A 30-man team from robbery/homicide division is going to break that up into different tangents, and the minute they get an identification on the victim, they can start to move into areas of who would have had it in for this individual, to the point that they wanted to kill him and then dismember him.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lauren Kornberg. Lauren Kornberg, you`re the dog walker who was walking with your mom, and, well, together, I guess you had nine dogs, including your mom`s dog, and Ollie, our hero dog, who found the severed head.
What happened to the grocery bag? You said it was a Ralph`s grocery bag. I`m holding a grocery bag right here. I personally don`t use them. I use my reusable bags. But did you pick it up? Or how did police connect the grocery bag after the dog got the head out of it?
KORNBERG: I actually don`t know what store it came from. It was a -- I believe it was beige in color. I didn`t even notice it. It was -- he had it completely out of the bag by the time I saw the head.
There was pieces of shredded bag around the area that the ranger asked if it came out of there, when he -- the ranger who was the first gentleman that was on site, asked if it came out of the bag. And I said maybe he pulled it out of there, but I wasn`t aware of it being in a bag. I was tending to the other dogs, and he was busy with what he was doing, so I honestly didn`t see him remove the head from the bag. But there was -- there was a shredded parts of bag right in front.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Did it -- did it look -- Lauren, did it look like the head had been buried and the dog had dug it up, or was it just sort of sitting there?
KORNBERG: He was working on pulling it out for a while. I don`t believe that it was buried. It wasn`t -- it wasn`t covered in dirt that I saw, but...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re just getting started.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Severed body parts discovered near the famous Hollywood sign in Los Angeles.
ANDREW SMITH, LOS ANGELES POLICE COMMANDER: It`s hard to go into a killer`s mind to figure out what they`re trying to do. But this is -- it was found in a somewhat remote area, off of the main trails.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The women who found the head were walking their dogs and the dogs actually found the bag first, and began playing with it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is one of the only trails that lead you straight to the Hollywood sign.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was not far off the trail. You know, they were able to see it without walking off the trail, so, you know, it was nearby.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sources tell me there`s speculation there could be other bags out within that crime scene with other body parts inside. Tonight, the Los Angeles Police Department could not confirm that information.
MIKE BROOKS, HLN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It`s fairly rugged, fairly rural, but are there other body parts out there? That`s what we don`t know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Good evening, everyone. Jane Velez- Mitchell, back with you live from New York City.
But in Hollywood, California, more dismembered body parts turning up in one of Hollywood`s most exclusive neighborhoods. We`re talking about the area right near the world famous Hollywood sign. That`s where a severed head was first found, then one hand, then another hand 50 feet away from the head. And then feet, two feet, one after the other, found in the area of many movie stars` homes, including Brad Pitt. Listen to this
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: It`s hard to go into a killer`s mind to figure out what they`re trying to do, but this is -- it was found in a somewhat remote area, off of the main trails and off of even some of the secondary trails. So if the dog or whatever hadn`t disturbed it, it might not have been found. So it`s fortunate for us that the dog was up there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And this guy -- there`s the Jolie-Pitt residence and there`s the Hollywood sign; it`s right in that area that these dismembered remains have been found. This is clearly a murder victim.
And we`ve been talking exclusively to Lauren Kornberg and Ollie. She`s a dog walker who was walking her dogs. They`re not hers, but she walks them because she`s a dog walker. There she is. And police have commended Lauren, saying, hey, she`s the reason, and Ollie, the golden retriever she was walking, they`re the reason -- there he is -- from golden retriever rescue, a rescue dog who is now a hero tonight, a Hollywood hero, for finding the severed head.
Again, Lauren, I want to ask you to describe what happened.
LAUREN KORNBERG, DOG WALKER WHO FOUND SEVERED HEAD: My mom and I were in the canyon. We`d been there for about 15 minutes. We`re walking nine dogs, eight of my clients` dogs and my mother and her dog were there.
Ollie broke away from the group and was digging and exploring underneath a bush in an area. He was barking. He -- it`s pretty common for him. He sometimes finds gifts for me, rats and squirrels and odd things. And he was working on it for a little while.
And then all of a sudden, I looked over and there was something in his mouth. Normally when he finds something, he does a happy dance and he runs around and shows off to the other dogs. This time, his behavior was really different and he dropped it immediately.
So I looked over just as something was rolling down the hillside, probably about 30 feet and into a ravine. It looked like it could have been a soccer ball. It was something large and round-shaped. And I said to my mom that it looked to me a little bit like a skull. I was kind of kidding.
And we went to go down the ravine and investigate, and when we went down there, we discovered that it was, and our first thought was that it was a Hollywood prop. Somebody maybe had been filming a little movie or something up there. But as we continued to inspect closer, we discovered that it was, in fact, human and appeared to be very recent and then called the authorities.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: How did you know it was recent? How did you know it was recent? I don`t want to be grotesque or macabre, but when you say severed, severed at the neck or here at the chin?
KORNBERG: Severed at the neck. It was severed at the neck.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Could you see blood? Go ahead.
KORNBERG: There was blood in his hair.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: There was blood in his hair. And there was no, um, part of what made it seem like it was fake was that it looked so new, there wasn`t damage or bruising or bugs or, you know, you sort of expect it to be something out of, like a horror movie scene, but it was so, sort of so new that it, it was more jarring.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: One last question, were the eyes open or were they shut?
KORNBERG: I did not see his eyes.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.
Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney, you`ve been listening to all of this. What do authorities need to do, given that they haven`t matched up with missing persons and they haven`t matched up with the torso? We`re going to show you a Google map here. There`s a torso that has been found in Tucson, Arizona. And let`s say, well, if it is that person, what do they do? If it`s not that person, what do they do?
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, obviously, what they`re going to do is what you were mentioning earlier is rehydrate those fingertips. So that once they`re rehydrated, they can actually roll them. They`ll run them through all the systems they have. It`s not necessarily that he has a criminal record, Jane.
They`ll run them through to see if he`s an attorney and he`s ever rolled his fingerprints to take the bar exam. Does he have a driver`s license from a state that, you know, requires that? They will run him through every possible database that they can once they get those fingers rehydrated.
They`re going to take DNA from that torso and from the parts that they`ve recovered here and see if that DNA matches. They`re also put that DNA into CODIS, and into NAMIS, which is the missing persons database. And when you have a missing loved one, you can take their DNA and enter it into that system.
So once they get DNA from these parts, they`ll find out if the torso in Arizona and the parts here in California are related. Then they`ll run it through CODIS to see if this person can be identified through the criminal justice system, then through NAMIS to find out if that DNA has been reported as a missing person anywhere in the country.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Let`s go to another caller. Our Skype caller, Lori, Nevada -- your question or thought, Lori?
LORI, NEVADA: Hi, Jane, how are you?
I`ve been listening, and do they have any kind of surveillance cameras around the homes or the park that they might be able to refer to. And also in Arizona, would they have cameras where they could compare people that have been in both places, perhaps?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I didn`t understand anything you said. Ok, somebody tell me what she said.
Were there surveillance cameras? Pete Demetrio, I`ve heard conflicting reports about this. People say no, but then other people say yes the Hollywood sign has been defaced so many times, that do they have surveillance cameras.
PETE DEMETRIO: Well, they have surveillance cameras up at the Hollywood sign, but that`s a considerable distance away from where the body parts were actually found. And the police have already canvassed the neighborhood. They`re going up and down talking to the individual residents who live on that one-way street leading into the park itself to see if they can pick up any relevant information from those particular cameras that would be at home.
As to the park itself and the areas surrounding, I don`t believe there are surveillance cameras there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Too bad.
Heide Bank, psychotherapist, we brought you here on another story but this is so fascinating. I know you used to live in that area.
HEIDE BANKS, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: Yes, I think the thing about that area that`s interesting is that you would imagine because there are all those celebrities there, that there would be a lot of lights and there aren`t. Those streets are pretty dark at night up there. So the only lights are really coming off of their own properties or people light their trees, but pretty much, you`re in the dark there.
Like, if you`re going to go jogging on those streets, you better have a headlight or something to warn people.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. And Kelly Davis, writer, X17Online what other celebrities aside from Brad Pitt live in that area?
KELLY DAVIS, WRITER, X17ONLINE: There are quite a few, actually. Katherine Heigl lives there with her family and she`s taken her daughter to the same park that Brad Pitt has taken the twins to, which is just below the area where the head was found.
Eva Mendez, January Jones, Ashton Kutcher just bought a home in that area. So there are quite a number of celebrities right there in the immediate area.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Heide Banks, you`re absolutely right, because I`ve been there. I`ve been there mostly for parties, not for hiking, but I remember driving into even somebody`s home, it`s so dark. You don`t even - - once you get out of the car, you`re like, whoa. So that`s another factor.
And once again, we want to honor the heroes of this story, Lauren Kornberg and the dog that she walks, the golden retriever rescue, come on, Ollie, wake up. Let`s get him on all fours. Come on, Ollie. There we go.
KORNBERG: Say hi to everybody.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s been exhausting for him. I mean he is now --
KORNBERG: It`s been -- he`s had a big week. He`s had a very big week.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He sure has. And we just want to say that you did the right thing. You called police. You followed your instinct.
First of all, if you hadn`t become curious about what Ollie had found, we would never know; it might have just gone and deteriorated and disintegrated and become like little Caylee Anthony`s skull which was found six months later that revealed very little. So salute to you and to your rescue, and he`s a perfect example of why you shouldn`t shop, adopt. He`s from Golden Retriever Rescue. Nice seeing you Ollie.
Up next, Newt Gingrich`s ex dishes on their scandalous split. It`s unbelievable scandal. And you won`t believe what his ex-wife is saying about what he asked her to say "yes" to. Next, we`re taking your calls.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Newt Gingrich`s ex is going public, saying the former House Speaker wanted an open marriage. Marianne Gingrich spoke with ABC News. Take a look.
MARIANNE GINGRICH, FORMER WIFE OF NEWT GINGRICH: He was asking to have an open marriage. And I refused.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He wanted an open marriage?
M. GINGRICH: Yes, that I accept the fact that he has somebody else in his life.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Newt Gingrich`s private life has been messy. He`s on his third marriage. He`s had two divorces. He`s also had affairs.
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We knew we`d get beaten up. We knew we`d get lied about. We knew we`d get smeared. Now people have to decide.
RICK PERRY (R), GOVERNOR, TEXAS: Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, my gosh, this reads like a torrid romance novel, but this breaking news tonight is very real. And it involved a man who wants to become president of the United States of America.
The second wife of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich appears hell- bent on derailing her ex-husband`s campaign. Marianne Gingrich was married to Newt for almost two decades. So what happened to make this woman you`re looking at, the ex, so darned mad.
Well, she has told ABC News that Newt cheated on her, but the real bombshell, well, let`s hear it from the ex-Mrs. Gingrich herself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
M. GINGRICH: I said to him, Newt, we`ve been married a long time. And he said, yes, but you want me all to yourself. Calista doesn`t care what I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was he saying to you, do you think?
M. GINGRICH: He was asking to have an open marriage. And I refused.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Whoo -- open marriage. Yow. The woman on Gingrich`s arm is his former mistress, Calista, the one he purportedly referred to when he was talking to Marianne. Calista, of course, is now his wife. He married her 12 years ago, shortly after divorcing Marianne Gingrich.
So why is Marianne coming forward now? Marianne says voters should know her ex-husband`s secrets, but at the end of the day, is she a bitter ex-wife or will Newt Gingrich`s adulterous past be his undoing? Newt calls his ex-wife`s comments tawdry and inappropriate.
What do you think? Call me, 1-877-JVM-SAYS.
Straight out to Danielle Beltin, political blogger, D.C. en fuego over this story but come on, it doesn`t matter. Old, young, Republican, Democrat, East Coast, West Coast, all the guys -- there`s so many politicians. I mean, there`s John Edwards.
We`ve got -- we`re going to show you a whole gallery of cheaters. Remember the Appalachian Trail fellow? Ok, what is it about these politicians -- there`s Arnold -- and sex?
DANIELLE BELTIN, POLITICAL BLOGGER: Well, I think there`s just so much ego going on here. I mean when you have that much ego, enough ego to run for office, it`s amazing. You think you can do almost anything, including cheat on your spouse repeatedly.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I got to tell you, you need a scorecard to cope track of Newt`s women; Newt Gingrich`s personal life, a tangled web of women. He has been -- let`s see -- married three times. And I got to read my notes here, because I`ve got to tell you, there`s so much -- published reports say he cheated on his first wife with Marianne, who then became his second wife and is now going on TV to accuse him of wanting an open marriage so that he can be with his mistress, who became wife number three.
He reportedly cheated on Marianne by having a six-year extramarital affair with the woman who became his third and current wife, Calista.
So, first, Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney out of Atlanta, do the women who start out mistresses and end up wives bear some responsibility here?
HUGHES: Well, of course they do. I mean they know he`s married going into it. So what kills me, Jane, is, ok, Marianne cheats on the first wife with him, then gets all upset when he finds somebody else and cheats on her? And does Calista really think he won`t do the same thing to her?
I mean, I`m sorry, but you get what you pay for. They go in knowing exactly what the score is, and you know, you can`t be real surprised when he turns out to be acting like a dog. He acted like a dog with the first wife.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I love dogs.
HUGHES: You know what, you`re absolutely right. Let me tell you something else, Jane. Let`s go back to the first story. Number one, you confuse me, because my nickname, my father calls me Ollie, every time you said Ollie, I kept thinking I was on. And second, I will never, ever yell at my little rescue dog for bringing home presents, because she`s never brought me a severed head, ok?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You are so sweet. I`m so glad you too have a rescue. It would appear Newt, Newty, I think they call him, abandoned his first two wives when they needed him most; when they apparently became seriously ill.
He purportedly asked his first wife, Jackie, for a divorce while she was hospitalized after having cancer surgery. And he purportedly told his second wife, Marianne, that he wanted a divorce only months after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, MS. And they say when you have MS, you`re not supposed to have stress.
I have to go to a psychotherapist here, Heide Banks. Marriage involves this certain vow that says, "in sickness and in health". What does this tell you?
BANKS: Well, not if it`s an open marriage. And by the way, I want to defend open marriage, for a minute because there are really some open marriages that work. Clearly, this was not an open marriage. What he wanted is his cake and eating it too. He wanted Calista and he wanted the wife that he had, Marianne. I mean that was it.
He came home and he said, look, can I have both? That`s extreme ego. My question is does he have the cheating gene, which is what they just recently discovered. And if he does, is this what he`s using as an excuse with these women?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, it`s very interesting, because, look, he apparently admitted that he had an affair, but it was a six-year affair according to published reports. And to me, what concerns me isn`t necessarily the affair, but it`s the cheating and the lying.
Now, Marianne claims that he would call her every night and say, "I love you". But the other one was in the room, listening. So if you are keeping secrets and lying to your spouse for six years, what kind of dissembling does that require? What kind of a psyche do you have?
BANKS: And what kind of first lady is this going to be? That`s the question. If this man is running for president, this is who we are talking about is going to be our first lady.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I`m a little more concerned with well -- yes, let`s look at that for a minute.
We`ll be right back.
BANKS: All right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heather Locklear had been rushed to the hospital after a 911 call.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Heather Locklear was rushed to the hospital after mixing prescription drugs and alcohol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They discovered that Heather Locklear in distress.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you spoiled?
HEATHER LOCKLEAR, ACTRESS: In real life? Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Is another Hollywood starlet spiraling out of control -- about to hit bottom? A slew of disturbing details coming out about legendary beauty Heather Locklear; in the wake of being raced to the hospital a week ago for allegedly mixing prescription pills and alcohol, prosecutors say Heather might face criminal battery charges too. Cops say she and her on again, off again lover Jack Wagner had a violent, physical altercation in December. One or both of them might be in trouble with the law now.
Meantime TMZ reporting after this latest visit to the ICU Heather`s family desperate to get her into rehab; but she says, no, no, no, I don`t want to go to rehab. That reminds me of a song. This is a totally different person than the Heather that we all came to know and love. I`m a huge fan. Check out this clip from her hit show, "T.J. Hooker".
LOCKLER: Hi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. First lesson`s free.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What a beauty. Mike Walters, TMZ news manager, what do you know tonight?
MIKE WALTERS, TMZ NEWS MANAGER: Well, the bottom line, Jane, is she needs help, and she has refused to go to rehab. This is not the first time that Heather`s been hospitalized and that a 911 call has gone into the house because she`s been combining or taking prescription medication.
The problem is, her family wants her to go right now to UCLA and check in for hardcore live-in treatment. And I can tell you she`s out of the hospital, at home and she has refused to go. And you know very well, Jane, we talked about it a lot of times this is what happens when celebrities have the money and power to refuse the treatment they want or they need and what people really want is for them to get help.
I can tell you they both are facing -- her and Jack -- a city attorney hearing, with a possible battery charge being timed against them because of this fight that they had. This is spiraling out of control, and she needs to get help as soon as possible.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Great to see my good buddy, Mike Walters. Jennifer Gimenez, house manager, VH1`s "Sober House" you`re a recovering cocaine user. I`m in recovery as well. We all know, you don`t go into recovery sitting at home like this.
JENNIFER GIMENEZ, HOUSE MANAGER, VH1 "SOBER HOUSE": Yes, you don`t. I mean I don`t understand why it`s ok for her to think that she can actually go home and get a little bit of rest before she goes into treatment. You know, like Mike was saying, she clearly has been in and out of the hospital and in treatment centers before, and she knows the process. It`s really sad to see how far down the scale she`s come, and that she doesn`t want to get help at this point.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jamison Monroe, addiction specialist, founder and CEO of the Newport Academy. Reports are, that she fights with Jack, who according to published reports is sober, and that`s a common dynamic in a relationship fighting over the fact that one`s sober, wants the other one to get sober and they won`t.
JAMISON MONROE, FOUNDER & CEO, NEWPORT ACADEMY: Yes, you`re exactly right, Jane. You often have the drug abuser and then you have the co- dependent, it`s just a tornado of a relationship that often results in domestic violence.
I want to take an opportunity though to point out some very alarming stats when it comes to prescription drug abuse. It`s that one person in this country dies every 19 minutes as a result of prescription drug overdose. That means three people die during the filming of this show, during your show, in the United States of America -- very alarming.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, it -- more people are OD`ing from legal drugs than illegal drugs.
More on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What`s ailing Heather Locklear inside? Psychotherapist Heide Banks, take it away.
BANKS: I don`t think she`s any different than a woman at her age. I mean she`s no longer a starlet, let`s face it; she`s over 50 at this point. She`s still beautiful. In fact, I think she`s more beautiful today than she was 20, 30 years ago.
But at that age, if you don`t have something else filling your life other than a career, and if you`re going back and forth and vacillating on a relationship, it`s a signal that something`s missing inside of you. And if that something is not taken care of, you`re going to fill it up. What`s the best thing to fill it up? Drugs, alcohol, getting into fights; all of that starts to escalate at that point.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, you`re absolutely right, Heide. She may be not only addicted to a prescription pills and alcohol but to drama. A lot of actresses are drama addicts as well.
BANKS: And, of course, alcohol just makes it all -- it`s the fuel to the fire. It`s fuel to the fire and that is what is going on.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Good to see you. We`re out of time.
END
